Cécile Gagnon (born January 7, 1936) is a Canadian writer and illustrator living in

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

. Born in

Quebec City Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...

, she received a bachelor's degree in literature from the

Université Laval (; English: ''Laval University)'' is a public research university in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The university traces its roots to the Séminaire de Québec, founded by François de Montmorency-Laval in 1663, making it the oldest institutio ...

. She went on to study graphic arts at

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

and the

École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs The École nationale supérieure des Arts Décoratifs (; ÉnsAD) also known as Arts Decos' and École des Arts décoratifs, is a public grande école of art and design, constituent member of PSL Research University. The school is located in the R ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, and art education at

Sir George Williams University Sir George Williams University was a university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It merged with Loyola College to create Concordia University on August 24, 1974. History In 1851, the first YMCA in North America was established on Sainte-Hélène St ...

. She then pursued Italian studies at the

Université de Montréal The Université de Montréal (; UdeM; ) is a French-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university's main campus is located in the Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood of Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce on M ...

and the Scuola di Lingua e Cultura in

Siena Siena ( , ; traditionally spelled Sienna in English; ) is a city in Tuscany, in central Italy, and the capital of the province of Siena. It is the twelfth most populated city in the region by number of inhabitants, with a population of 52,991 ...

. From 1971 to 1973, she was responsible for the ''Safari'' magazine for children at ''

Montréal-Matin ''Montréal-Matin'' ("Montreal-Morning") was a Quebec daily newspaper based in Montreal. It was published from 1930 to 1978. It was politically associated to the Conservative Party of Quebec (historical), Conservative Party of Quebec and, afterwa ...

''. From 1977 to 1979, she was editor in chief of the "Cahiers Passe-partout" at the Quebec

Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

. She contributed to various publications, including ''Lurelu'', '' Cahiers de la femme'', ''Municipalité'' and the '' IBBY Newsletter''; from 1986 to 1988, she was editor in chief for ''Coulicou''. Gagnon has been a finalist several times for the

Governor General's Awards for Literary Merit The Governor General's Awards are a collection of annual awards presented by the governor general of Canada, recognizing distinction in numerous academic, artistic, and social fields. The first award was conceived and inaugurated in 1937 by the ...

. In 2012, she received the Prix Raymond-Plante for her body of work. At the publisher , she established and directed the "Brindille" collection and directed the "Libellule" collection. She was a founding member of and served as its president from 1977 to 1979. In 1997, the (ACELF) created the , named in her honour.

Selected works

* ''La pêche à l'horizon'' (1961), received the Prix du Grand Jury des Lettres * ''Ô Canada!'' (1964), received the Prix du Mérite de la Foire internationale du livre de

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

* ''Martine-aux-oiseaux'' (1964), received the Prix de la Province de Québec * ''Alfred dans le métro'' (1980), received the Prix de l'ACELF * ''Ascenseur d'Adrien'' (1986), received the Prix ACELF Raymond-Beauchemin

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gagnon, Cecile 1936 births Living people Canadian children's writers in French Canadian children's book illustrators Canadian women children's book illustrators Writers from Quebec City Boston University College of Fine Arts alumni Sir George Williams University alumni Université Laval alumni Canadian women children's writers